From small beginnings, Bengaluru is finally segregating much more waste at source. Over 50% of waste generated in the city is being segregated, says the latest daily report of the BBMP's solid waste management wing.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) will have another meeting with banks and National Informatics Centre officials to sort out the problem in property tax collection.
The BBMP portal is facing certain problems due to which tax collection has not gained momentum despite 5% concession on payment till April 30. While there is a login problem for paying taxes online, banks are not yet prepared to handle the rush.
In addition, the BBMP is not able to adjust the arrears of those who had paid excess last year without waiting for BBMP's rollback in the tax rates and reclassification of tax zones.
The chairman of BBMP's standing committee on taxation and finance, M K Gunashekar, had a meeting with the NIC director on Friday where the problems confronted by the citizens were discussed. Another meeting will be held on April 13 where bank officials will also be present along with NIC officials.
"We are going to have a good decision on April 13 pertaining to tax collection. We will have a decentralised tax ...

The state government has been investing crores of rupees in civic projects in Bengaluru. But most Bengalureans feel that infrastructures such as skywalks are not of much help to them. Skywalks have become symbols of public wrath. Many feel they are a bane than a boon for pedestrians. Public interactions by DH helped understand the reasons for this widespread dislike for such projects.
Jenny Pinto, a resident of Indiranagar, had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) urging the government to maintain the city footpaths, instead of building skywalks. Finally, the court directed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to maintain the footpaths. But the situation still seems to be the same with uneven footpaths all over the city, she laments.
She feels that skywalks are an utter waste of money and resource, as they are not user-friendly. She explains, "People walk carrying luggage in their hand. This makes it difficult for them climb the narrow and high stairs."
Skywalks, she says, are not friendly ...

Paving the way for the widening of Ballari Road (from Windsor Manor junction to Mehkri Circle) and Jayamahal Road, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has put out a notification for issuing Transferable Development Right (TDR) to the erstwhile royal family of Mysuru against acquisition of a portion of Palace Grounds.
While the road was widened from Mehkri Circle to Hebbal junction and beyond, the stretch between Windsor Manor junction and Mehkri Circle is narrow and remains a bottleneck. The BBMP built two grade separators &mdash; overpass and underpass &mdash; to address the problem but that did not help much.
The state government, however, shelved land acquisition and decided to build a steel flyover instead. But now that the steel flyover project has been scrapped, road-widening remains the only option. The Supreme Court as well as the High Court of Karnataka had directed the government to go ahead with the land acquisition.
The government and the BBMP initially insisted that the royals ...

Cashing in on the prevailing drinking water crisis, owners of private water tankers in the city have hiked the prices by 40% in the last one month.
A10,000-litre water tanker load, which cost Rs 750 in February, is now being sold for between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,250. Similarly, the price of a 6,000-litre water tanker load that was in the range of Rs 500 now costs Rs 800.
The hike in rates has been noticed in areas like Whitefield, Banashankari 3rd Stage, Sarjapura, KR Puram and RR Nagar. According to sources, there are around 30,000 private tankers in the BWSSB limits. Illegal borewells is another menace to which BBMP has remained a mute spectator.
A BWSSB official said, "We have sent a proposal to BBMP officials to chalk out measures and frame laws against private tanker owners who own illegal borewells, but so far there has been no response. The tankers should display the rate card."
BWSSB chief engineer Kemparamaiah said they have decided to provide free water to people staying in 110 villages newly ...

The state government is learnt to have decided to speed up the process to re-structure administrative zones in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and increase their number to 10 from eight.
An expert committee on re-structuring the BBMP headed by former chief secretary B S Patil has been directed to soon submit the revised proposal for increasing the number of zones.
The three-member committee has been asked to carve out new zones, besides increasing their numbers to 10 for providing effective administration.
"The committee has been asked to submit the revised proposal at the earliest. The panel has been asked to set right anomalies in the existing administrative zones to ensure effective delivery of services to people," Additional Chief Secretary to Urban Development Department Mahendra Jain said.
The committee had submitted its proposal on carving out new zones in December 2015. But many Congress MLAs from Bengaluru had pointed anomalies in the proposal and asked the government to set them ...

As an eleventh hour exercise, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has decided to hold a meeting with the director of National Informatics Centre (NIC) to address the technical problem in its tax collection portal.
The NIC has developed the BBMP's new portal. The portal has several technical glitches. For instance, the online tax payment window has crashed and is not reflecting the arrears among others.
"Tomorrow (Friday) we will have a meeting with the NIC director to address the problems in the Palike's software as early as possible," BBMP's Standing Committee on Taxation and Finance chairman MKGunashekar said.
Meanwhile, more complaints have started pouring in that the Palike is not refunding the excess payment made last year by some people before the rollback in the property tax hike.
Anantharam from Seshadripuram said that in 2015-16, he had paid a tax of Rs 6,378. Next year, the tax rates were revised along with zonal reclassification. As a result, the tax payable was Rs 11,654, which he ...

The Bengaluru urban district administration, which is dealing with more than 6,000 cases of land encroachment, could move only eight cases to the anti-land grabbing special court in the last seven months though the district headquarters is barely a few metres away from the court.
Perturbed by the indifferent attitude of the district administration, the special court has now decided to act on V Balasubramanian's report 'Greed and Connivance'.
It has set itself a target of disposing of at least 4,000 cases and to initiate action against land sharks.
The Balasubramanian committee had found encroachment of 12 lakh acres of
government land across the state.
Ten days ago, the court had directed district authorities across the state to send the list of land grabbers with documents. Bengaluru Urban district authorities are among those who have not responded, despite being located close to the court. The range forest officers of six districts have so far sent the list and relevant papers.
The court has warned the ...

The National Green Tribunal, in an order on May 4, 2016, increased the buffer zone around lakes in Bengaluru from 30 to 75 metres.The order has ruled out new constructions in the 75-metre distance from lakes. Now, the BBMP has clarified that projects which got construction licence before the NGT order came can go ahead with their plans.

The city corporation has drawn up a list of 250 illegal meat shops in the city and issued notices to them. It is in the process of forming two squads to conduct raids and enforce restrictions on animal slaughter.